Award Data

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of designing engineered mesoporous zirconia films for intermediate temperature (600ýýC) solid-oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) with the aim of extending the basic and practical knowledge of synthesis as well as electronic behavior of mesoporous films, while at the same time producing materials that have a direct ...

Several hundred beam lines are used around the world at today¿s third-generation synchrotron facilities. These facilities must deal with monochromator-based performance problems due to high heat load. Many have resorted to the use of costly, complicated, high maintenance cryogenic cooling of silicon crystals. Single crystal diamond monochromators present an advantage over the silicon crystals ...

Higher gas transport membranes would enhance membrane separations, especially those associated with energy savings (e.g., oxygen or nitrogen enriched air). In these systems, gas transport is inversely proportional to the thickness of the membrane¿s active layer. This project will explore a novel route for preparing ultrathin (100-1000 angstroms) membranes with very high selectivity. First, memb ...

Biomass fast pyrolysis fuel (BioOil) is a liquid fuel made from wood chips and the low-grade wood byproducts of timber harvesting. However, when BioOil is stored, its chemicals polymerize, aided by the oxygen present in the BioOil. As a consequence, the viscosity of the BioOil increases over time, and, under extreme conditions, it can become a solid. In addition, the presence of water results i ...

Natural gas offers cost and environmental benefits over other conventional energy sources and decreases our dependence on oil imports. However, many sources of natural gas also contain large amounts of non-hydrocarbon gases, which make them uneconomical to market. Removal of these non-hydrocarbon impurities, in order to raise low quality raw gas to pipeline quality, could have significant econom ...

There continues to be a need to produce fuel-grade ethanol from renewable sources. However, the cost of agricultural-based ethanol is quite severe, despite the fact that existing and new legislation provides significant incentives for its use. This project addresses novel routes to enhance the low-cost production of high-quality dry-fuel-grade ethanol by means of a novel water-ethanol separation ...

A ONE STEP SYNTHESIS OF THE ABOVE COMPOUND FROM COMMERCIALLYAVAILABLE RESORCINOL AND RESORCYLIC ACID WILL BE INVESTIGATED USING HYDROGEN FLUORIDE, BORON TRIFLUORIDE, NAFION(R) RESINS, AND OTHER STRONG LEWIS ACIDS AS CATALYSTS.YIELDS WILL BE OPTIMIZED FOR THE PREFERRED SYSTEMS. A COST EFFECTIVE PURIFICATION TO A PRODUCT USUABLE IN THIN FILM SOLAR APPLICATION WILL BE WORKED OUT.

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to develop platform clostridia strains suitable for industrial scale alcohol production from renewable feedstocks and also to improve metabolic engineering technologies for all clostridia. Clostridia are strictly anaerobic, endospore forming prokaryotes of major importance to cellulose degradation, human and animal health and physiology, ...

The bacteria genus, Clostridium, includes many species that are naturally capable of degrading cellulose and producing valuable chemicals and fuel alcohols. Unfortunately the genetic engineering tools for developing improved strains are limited for all clostridia. This project will develop novel approaches for enhancing chromosomal integration in all clostridia species. With an enhanced recombi ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will test the feasibility of a signal processing algorithm to separate energy used by individual appliances from the total natural gas and electricity entering a home. Utility ratepayers may benefit from this detailed information by more-effectively identifying and mitigate inefficient appliances and activities. The new generation of smart el ...